CHAPTER 19: RELIEF

The idea of taking Bin to hospital was immediately shot down by Sunhee. She demanded that Bin would be taken back to their house and the family’s own doctor would visit him. So, after the ambulance men checked his condition and made sure he had no major injuries, he was carried to Mr. Moon’s car that Sunhee said she’d drive back to Seoul. At this moment Minhyuk’s father stepped up and said he would drive us back instead, as Sunhee needed to rest after the shocking situation.

So there we were, in the black sports car, heading back to Seoul. I sat on the back seat, Bin lying down and resting his head on my lap. He had probably come to his senses but he was in deep sleep, and very likely in pain even though the ambulance men had given him some shots. I gently ran my fingers through his hair. He looked so peaceful like this, even though I couldn’t ignore the blood on the corner of his mouth and cheeks. His left eye had some purple bruising around it. I couldn’t hold back a small frown thinking about the man who had done this to him.

“Thank you, inspector Park”, I heard Sunhee say quietly. “You saved us.”

“It was all thanks to Minji”, he replied. “Even though what she did was extremely dangerous.”

“I’m sorry”, I cut into his sentence. “But Bin was eager to go and I didn’t want to leave him alone.”

The man sighed. “Of course. Well, anyhow – now everything should return to normal. We have documents of illegal smuggling and we were the witnesses to abuse and attempted homicide today. It’s not likely he’d get out of this mess even with his connections.”

I couldn’t help but to let out a deep, relieved sigh. I felt like a huge stone rolled off my heart and I could breathe freely again. I would be able to see aunt and Eunwoo happy again, and Bin and I could finally spend time like a normal teenage couple. I gently ran my fingers up and down his back and smiled. I heard him mumble something inaudible in his sleep. I chuckled and leaned my head against the car’s cool window. I closed my eyes. I hadn’t felt this happy in a while.

After the car was parked in front of Bin’s family’s house, Minhyuk’s father carried Bin through the house’s hallways and into his room. As he was put down on the bed, he moved in his sleep, looking a bit uncomfortable. I immediately rushed to sit on the side of his bed, wiping sweat off his face.

“The medicals said that he doesn’t have any internal injuries or broken bones, right?” he asked.

Sunhee nodded. “Just bruises and wounds.”

“You can call the doctor if he feels great pain once he wakes up, but I think just dressing his wounds will be enough for now”, the man said and flashed an ensuring smile at Sunhee, who nodded and bowed at him as a thank you.

Then he man left the house, after saying he’d be in contact with Sunhee and my aunt once he’d get back to the police station. As the man shut the door behind him, Sunhee let out a relieved sigh and leaned against the wall for a moment. I looked at her, raising my eyebrows, like asking if she was alright.

“I feel so…” she said quietly. “I don’t know. Good?”

I smiled at her. “I know right. I haven’t felt this good in weeks.”

Her smile withered a little bit. “For me it’s been years…”

I couldn’t help but to look away. Had I sounded selfish? In the end, she had suffered the whole time she had been married – for over 15 years. I coughed awkwardly and scratched the back of my head. Sunhee said she’d get the first aid kit for me to cleanse and dress Bin’s wounds. I looked after her a bit confused. She must’ve known we were dating as she told me to dress his wounds instead of doing it by herself. In the end, I was probably the only girl he had ever taken home, so it wasn’t a surprise she found out.

I glanced at Bin. He was sleeping so peacefully, eyelids moving a little bit from time to time. His hair was all messy and I could see some blood behind his fringe too. I gently brushed the hair off his forehead and made sure the wounds weren’t bleeding anymore. As Sunhee brought me the first aid kit, I started gently cleaning the wounds. After I wiped off the excess blood, the wounds weren’t that bad. One on his forehead, two on his cheeks and one on the corner of his mouth.  There were some bruises as well, and very likely more on his body. I also cleaned the visible wounds he had on his hands and arms, and then moved on to putting bandages over them.

As I placed the last bandage on his forehead, I smiled and brushed the hair back to cover it.

“Once you wake up everything will be fine”, I whispered.

The day’s shocking incidents had taken their toll on me as well, as I happened to fall asleep at some point. It felt like those one-minute-naps when you fall asleep and after what feels like an hour you wake up just to see it hasn’t been a long time. I slowly opened my eyes just to realize I was lying on the bed, very close to Bin, and he had his eyes open. He was giving me an intense stare.

My eyes enlarged and I was about to move a bit farther away from him as Bin rushed towards me and pinned me against the mattress with his body, his legs on both sides of mine and his hands keeping my shoulders on place. I let out a surprised yelp and couldn’t do anything but to stare back into his intense eyes.

“Y- You’re awake”, I managed to stutter.

“Do you have any idea how stupid and dangerous that was?” he asked, his eyes getting narrower.

“What? What do you mean?” My voice became a whisper and my eyes kept becoming larger.

“You hit dad”, he replied. “You know; he could have killed you.”

“I was afraid he’d kill you!” I burst out instead. “Do you think I wanted to just stand still and watch you get beaten up?”

His eyes got a bit larger, and he blinked a few times. “Well, I guess you did save me.”

“Stop with the guessing”, I whispered and wrapped my hands around his neck, pulling him against me and hugging him tightly. I couldn’t hold back the shaking in my voice. I was about to cry. “I’m so sorry. We should have just stayed home. If we didn’t go there, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

Bin was silent for a moment, his hands were still on my shoulders, the position was a little bit uncomfortable as he couldn’t really move since I was hugging him. He breathed deeply next to my ear and I felt his grip on my shoulders tighten. “Were you really that worried?”

“Of course I was”, I replied.

Bin let go of my shoulders and let himself fall closer to me, putting his other hand on the back of my head and pulling me into a deep kiss. It was more passionate and needy than our first kiss had been, and it delivered all the feelings we hadn’t been able to say out loud. I felt my fingers running through his hair and pulling him closer. I couldn’t really breathe but at that moment it didn’t matter. It felt like our lips were made for each other, the kiss felt so natural – like this was how it was supposed to be. Bin groaned into the kiss – the wound on the corner of his mouth must’ve not been very practical while kissing. His hands wandered down to my waist and I felt the butterflies flying in my stomach again. Then I slowly started snapping back into the reality. Sunhee could walk into the room any moment now, and we were having a make out session on Bin’s bed. Bin seemed to realize that too as he slowly broke the kiss, breathing heavily and staring into my eyes with a look that made me sure I was with the right person. It didn’t stop me from blushing and turning my head away from him, though. Why did I always feel so embarrassed after kissing, or just hugging, him?

“What did I say about that?” Bin asked, smirking, and gently turned my head back to him. He looked at me lovingly before placing another kiss on my forehead. I couldn’t help but to giggle a little bit.

A knock from the door broke our little moment, and Bin quickly rolled off me, lying on his back, and I quickly got off the bed, just in time as Sunhee stepped into the room with a plate filled with kimbap. Her eyes widened with joy as she saw Bin was awake. She put the plate down on the nightstand and sat on the bed, smiling at her son.

“You’re awake”, she said quietly. “How are you feeling?”

Bin smiled warmly at her. “I’m alright. How about you?”

“Little bit tired, but fine”, Sunhee replied.

“What about dad...?”, Bin asked quietly.

Sunhee sighed. “He will go to jail, most likely.”

Bin looked relieved, but I couldn’t not notice the small, sad glimmer in his eyes. Even if he hated the man from the bottom of his heart, he must’ve thought of him as his father at least in some part of his life. Now he wouldn’t see him again. I sat to the bed, next to Bin, and tried to comfort him with a small smile.

“Ah, Minji”, Sunhee said. “I called your aunt. She’s coming to get you soon.”

“Is it okay for her to leave the house?” I asked.

“Well, I think every single one of Daewon’s subordinates had something else to think about right now”, Sunhee chuckled. “She’ll be fine.”

I nodded. I watched as Sunhee got up from the bed and motioned us to eat the kimbap she had made for us. She smiled as she exited to room. I felt almost embarrassed, knowing the fact she knew about us. I fell down on my back the moment the door was closed, and left out a sigh.

“She almost caught us, right?” Bin asked jokingly, turning to his side and looking at me.

“I think she knows about us”, I chuckled.

“Well, I do admit that she’s been acting a bit weird lately”, Bin said. “But I think it won’t be a problem. She and your aunt are friends, right? I don’t think they’ll be against us.”

I sighed. “But then there is Eunwoo.”

“What does he have against me?” Bin asked. “He has always hated me.”

I shrugged my shoulders and grabbed one of the kimbap rolls, putting it into my mouth and letting out a satisfied sound. It was so good. “Why am I surrounded with people who can cook? My aunt, Sunhee, Minhyuk…”

“I think I have to learn to cook then”, Bin laughed. “I can’t fall to the second place with Minhyuk.”

I rolled my eyes and gently slapped his arm. He let out a yelp and then ran his hand up and down the arm. “I’m hurt, you know”, he said, pouting at me. I snorted and pushed a kimbap roll into his mouth.

A short while later Sunhee informed me that aunt had arrived to the house. I rushed out of Bin’s room and ran straight into aunt’s arms, hugging her tightly. It felt almost weird seeing her dressed like a stylish business woman, after seeing her wearing T-shirts and sweatpants for the last few weeks. Her hair was tied up into a bun and her bruises were gone. She looked energetic and happy again – though her smile was slowly withering away.

“Ryu Minji”, she groaned into my ear while backing away from the hug. “How could you run away from home like that? Nobody knew where you were before inspector Park called me. I was worried to death!”

I looked down. “I’m sorry…”

“But are you alright? I heard Bin was knocked off!” aunt continued, changing the subject.

I nodded. “I’m completely fine. Bin is alright too.”

Aunt sighed in relief. She flashed me a small smile and then turned to look at Sunhee.

“Is it over now?” she asked.

“The police took him”, Sunhee replied, nodding.

The women hugged each other and aunt let out a joyful chuckle. “We have to celebrate this later. Without alcohol, of course”, she said, glancing at Sunhee’s stomach.

After the women said goodbye, aunt and I returned home. The car ride was silent; we didn’t even have the radio on. But the relieved sighs we both let out from time to time were more than enough to show that we were just overwhelmed.

At home, I ran into Eunwoo as the first thing at the door. He stared at me for a short moment before pulling me into a hug. My eyes enlarged so wide I thought they’d pop out. The last time I saw Eunwoo we had fought. Apparently he had apologized me.

“I thought you ran away because you were mad at me”, he said quietly into my ear.

“Are you serious?” I asked. “I would never run away because of something like that. Let’s forget about that fight anyway.”

Eunwoo backed away from the hug and nodded at me. “This doesn’t mean I approve of Bin, though.”

“I won’t bring him here anyway”, I snorted. “We won’t have time for anything like that, we need to start studying like crazy if we want to get into university.”

Eunwoo laughed. “Well, that’s very true.”

I walked into my room, fell on my back on the bed and closed my eyes for a moment. It had been a long day. Driving around Seoul and Incheon had taken about 4 hours from the day, not to count the time we had spent at the summer villa and Bin’s house. It was already 6pm, and the sun had started to set long ago. I finally realized to check my phone just to see dozens of worried texts from Eunwoo and Minhyuk. I quickly texted Minhyuk.

Sorry I didn’t reply; my day has been quite busy…

And the answer came in seconds.

Yeah, I heard from dad. Are you sure you’re alright?

I chuckled at the text before texting back.

Yes, I’m fine. See you tomorrow at school!

Just as I was about to throw the phone away, I got a new text, this time from Bin.

What would you think about the movie date tomorrow?

I smiled. That sounds great!